When U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Matt Crocker asked for the youth game’s help at last month’s United Soccer Coaches Convention, not a lot of people were in the room to hear it.
But that doesn’t mean his message wasn’t received.
There was significant interest, including from two of the most prominent figures in the Philadelphia region’s youth soccer scene.
“Our soccer ecosystem has needed this for a long time,” Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer CEO Chris Branscome said. “There has been a growing chorus of voices supporting more direction from the top. The current administration at U.S. Soccer, led by Cindy Cone and JT Batson, have heard us and has taken on the responsibility.”
Branscome’s counterpart across the Delaware River, New Jersey Youth Soccer CEO Evan Dabby, agreed.
“I have been in my role at New Jersey Youth Soccer for about 12 years now, and I don’t recall a time that U.S. Soccer has been more engaged with the youth soccer members,” Dabby said. “As a leader at a state association, I believe New Jersey Youth Soccer can benefit from a clear national vision and more national alignment, and those themes are present in Matt’s words.”
It’s noteworthy that state-level leaders are willing to be led from the top. That hasn’t always been the case, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that every local youth club has the same view.
But there’s a long history of youth administrators telling U.S. Soccer to stop ordering them around, and this time the tone does seem different. From the room where Crocker spoke in January to the one where he spoke at last year’s coaches’ convention, the reception has been, if not always warm, at least quite a bit warmer.
‘Dollars over development’ doesn’t help
“It’s important to us that he’s not just focused on the national teams; he’s focused on all players at all levels,” said Branscome, who also serves as one of 10 commissioners on U.S. Soccer’s youth council. Its chair is U.S. Youth Soccer board of directors chair Tina Rincon, and co-chairs include veteran U.S. Club Soccer CEO Mike Cullina.
“We’re working collectively and collaboratively to define our player pathways and provide more resources,” Branscome said. “It won’t be easy, but it’s necessary. It’s a major focus for us over the next few years. We’ve seen that dollars over development doesn’t necessarily help us grow the game or make players better.”
He added that “the game inherently doesn’t require high costs, but that’s what’s happened here.”
Those words undoubtedly will get lots of agreement, even if there’s perennial disagreement on how to bring costs down. Whatever the cost to a player’s family, there’s still a bill being paid somewhere.
One obvious way to make things cheaper is to reduce travel distances for teams. More than once in Crocker’s speech last month, he noted how difficult it is for clubs to play local opponents because they’re in different leagues.
“That team can’t play that team, and they go all the way past them and jump on a plane and spend hundreds of dollars to go and play [another] team because that league fell out with that league,” he said. “Just crazy. This is about children. This is about the best opportunities for children.”
Dabby found those words “motivating,” as he did when he heard another of Crocker’s speeches to U.S. Soccer donors and sponsors in December.
He noted that New Jersey Youth Soccer recently launched an Open Cup tournament for teams from any league in the state. MLS, where Dabby used to work, gave an assist to get clubs in its MLS Next leagues into the event. But he made it clear that the competition was created with “not just the New Jersey Youth Soccer community.”
Branscome said Eastern Pennsylvania would like to have a similar event, but it hasn’t been able to get the entities that would be involved to agree on a schedule.
“It’s unfortunate that your neighboring club doesn’t play your rivals anymore because they are in other member organizations of the Federation,” he said. “It’s almost like the Big 5.”
‘Saying these things out loud’
The most significant point Crocker made — and the one that will be hardest to execute on — was calling on the youth game to value player development more and winning less.
He knew, as does everyone around the game, how tall a hill that is to climb. Can Crocker be the one who finally convinces a youth club coach to risk their job by winning less or convinces a parent who believes winning is the best way to a college scholarship?
“Soccer in the U.S. has entrepreneurialism and a culture of winning attached to our player development,” Branscome said. “Matt knows that’s not the right learning environment and wants to raise the standards. It’s great that someone in Matt’s position is finally saying these things out loud and providing support to the grassroots.”
If you’re an outsider to this, it might be hard to believe there’s so much fuss. But there is, and has been for a long time.
Crocker is the latest of U.S. Soccer’s leaders to try to untangle the knot. So far, his effort has been a bit more polite than some of his predecessors. Will it work?
“What I might appreciate above all else is Matt refers to children, not players,” Branscome said, and Crocker has done that emphatically in some of his remarks. That the Wales native has come in as an outsider has led him to say things that insiders perhaps wouldn’t say aloud. One of them is that for a lot of people in youth soccer, the children playing matter less than the adult decision-makers.
“Soccer provides various opportunities for children and they learn and mature at different speeds,” Branscome said. “Matt knows coaches need to be educators and keep development at the forefront of the experience.”
Crocker has a long way to go to get to where he wants to be. But it’s always nice to have support, and he’d probably be pleased to know he has it around here.
